Atomizing fan



May 4, 1937. R. R. HAYS ATOMIZING FAN Filed Se t. 5, 1936 InvenzorW65??? Patented May 4, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFHCE ATOMIZING FANRussell R. Hays, Wellsville, Kans. Application September 5, 1936, SerialNo. 99,583

Claims.

This invention relates to atomizing devices for air conditioningapparatus.

It has for an object the provision of a centrifugal pump integral to aradial fan and serving to deliver a constant stream of water or otherliquid to the blades of the fan.

Another object is'the provision of anovel spray ring for a fan having afilm of liquid traveling radially acrossits blades, thisring being sodisposed as. to permit a, free flow of air through the fan and at thesame time to adequately drain offunatomized liquid impinging against itirrespective of the position of the fan.

Yet another object is the provision of a mechanism for circulatingliquid across the blades of a vertically positioned radial fan, ofsimple construction and of such lightnessthat it can be utilized with aconventional oscillating fan.

Still another object is the provision of a novel priming device for acentrifugal suction pump such as is incorporated in this invention.

Ancillary objects such as the correct positioning and proportioning ofparts to vary the size of the fluid particles, and the design ofdetailed parts to permit easy assembly and disassembly will becomeapparent from reading the following description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a radial fan equipped with anatomizingldevice such as is embodied in this invention. a

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the centrifugal suction pump taken alongthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and, c

Figure 3 is a sectional View along the line. 33

of Fig. 1 showing a cross-section of the spray ring, the tip of a blade,and the direction of the airflowbetween the two.

Referring to the drawing in detail, an electric motor I!) held by astand H, carries a radial fan having blades l2. A small metal chamber I4is solidly secured to the center of the fan and carries symmetricallydisposed plugs l5 fitted with jet tubes [6 disposed along the leadingedges of the fan blades l2, the-tips of the jet tubes being bent intoward the blades in such a manner that liquid thrown out from them willflow out smoothly across the pressure side of the blades and to the tipsof the blades before being expelled.

The outer face of the chamber l4 projects to form a threaded portion I!the center of which is aligned with the shaft of the motor l0 andcarries the inflow tube l9 near the end of which a shoulder 20 ridessmoothly in the indented end of the threaded portion I1, being securedin this position and the connection rendered airtight by thepacking 2|inthe slip nut or packing nut I8 during rotation of the chamber I4 aboutthe inflow tube.

The extendingendof the tube i9 is bent downward and soldered to thebottom and outer face of the spray ring 26, and continues downward intothe liquid held by the supply pan 22. A straight section of the tubebeneath the surface of the liquid has a disaligned opening 23, after 10which the tube is bent up to contact the ring 26 again, rigidly securedthere, and the outwardly projecting end 24 fitted with a small rubberpriming bulb 25.

The spray ring 26 is held by brackets 27 sol- 5 idly secured by screws28 to the housing of the motor ll], the ring being equidistantly spacedfrom the tips of the fan blades l2 and when seen in cross-section, Fig.3, presents a slightly curved and oblique'surface with a hooked flange3| at a the edge lying rearwardly to the direction of airflow throughthe fan. A hole 29 in the bottom of the spray ring permits any liquidcollecting in the ring to drain back into the supply tank 22.

In operation, when the fan has attained its normal speed, the bulb 25 isdepressed and upon being released draws up water from the supply pan 22through the hole 23. Sudden pressure on the bulb ejects the water intothe tube l9 with considerable velocity with the result that the hole 3023 being out of alignment with the direction of the flow, the water iscarried on up the tube l9 and into the chamber l4. Here, due to thecentrifugal forces effective through rotation of the fan it is hurledout radially and into the jet tubes I6, thereby creating a suction whichpulls more water up the tube l9 and thus keeps the pump in operation.

Since the tips of the jets I 6 contact the surface of the blades l2, itfollows that the water hurled outwardly and downwardly from the tipswill spread most effectively across the pressure side of the blades,meanwhile traveling radially with increasing velocity until hurled fromthe edges of the blade in the form of tiny drops. These drops impingeagainst the spray ring thereby producing an atomized spray, the excessof water forming a rivulet which drains back into the supply tank 22.

Inasmuch as the liquid stream spreads in travcling across the blade, itfollows that the distance of this travel in conjunction with thediameter of the jets It, will be determining factors controlling thesize of the drops thrown from the blade tips; since needle like depositsof sediment left from vaporization of the water soon build up on theblade tips and render any variation in the thickness of the blade edgeineffective for determining the size of these drops. Furthermore, due torearward travel of the water film during contact with the airstream, atwhich time direct vaporization occurs, it is desirable that the jets beforwardly disposed relative to the lift line of the blades; sinceotherwise unvaporized liquid would leave the trailing edge of the bladerather than its tip, with a resultant decrease in velocity andtangential impinging against the spray ring 26.

The fact that the spray ring has a smaller periphery at its forward edgethan at its back edge, serves the double purpose of producing a minimumof air resistance and of deflecting any forwardly moving spray into theactive air stream. The hooked section 3| at the rear of the spray ring26 acts to prevent spray flying outside the active airstream, and alsoprevents excess water draining off the ring before it is returned to thesupply pan 22. The depth of the curvature of the spray ring 26, ofcourse, determines the size of the fluid particles thrown into the airstream from it, and it can be given such depth that very little morethan saturated air enters the airstrearn.

However, a definite object of this invention is the throwing of sprayinto the air stream as contrasted with direct humidifiers which throwout only saturated air; since it has been found that such spray iseffectively taken up in traveling with the air stream with the resultthat the humidifying effect or efficiency of the system is greatlyincreased. In keeping with this aim, it is to be noted that the airflow,Fig. 3, at the blade tips is reversed in direction to the main airstream to an effective distance of approximately one third the chord ofthe blade at its maximum width, and that the spray from the spray ring26 carried by this tip flow passes down and through the fan to becarried near the center of the resultant air stream.

Because of this economy in introducing spray into the air stream, it isobvious that the atomizing device described is equally applicable to alltypes of cooling fans whether they be direct circulating fans or fansused in air conditioning apparatus. Also, because of the unity andlightness of parts, such an atomizing attachment is particularlyapplicable to conventional oscillating fans. Therefore, what I claim is:

1. An atomizing attachment for a radial fan of the character describedcomprising a supply tank, a chamber rotatable with said fan and locatednear the fan axis, radial tubes extending from said chamber to thesurface of the fan blades, a supply tube establishing communicationbetween said supply tank and said chamber whereby rotation of the fandraws waterfrom said tank to said fan blades, and. a priming deviceincluding an extension of the supply tube carrying means for expelling ajet of fluid into the supply tube and up into said chamber at the centerof the fan.

2. An atomizing attachment for a radial fan of the character describedcomprising a supply tank, a chamber rotatable with said fan and locatednear the fan axis, radial tubes extending from said chamber to thesurface of the fan blades, a supply tube establishing communicationbetween said supply tank and said chamber whereby rotation of the fandraws fluid from said tank to said blades, and a priming deviceincluding an aligned extension of the supply tube past the disalignedopening into the supply tank, a bulb on the extending end of the supplytube whereby water is forced into the supply tube at such velocity as tocarry up into the chamber carried at the center of the fan.

3. In atomizing apparatus of the character described, a radial fanoperated by an electric motor, a spray ring encircling said fan, asupply tank located beneath said spray ring and catching any fluiddraining from said spray ring, a centrifugal pump at the center of thefan, jets extending radially from said pump forwardly and along theunder working surfaces of the respective blades of the fan, a supplypipe to the center of said centrifugal pump, a shoulder on said supplypipe bearing against a recessed portion of the pump center, a packingbehind said shoulder, a packing nut holding said shoulder in alignmentwith the recessed surface of the pump face, a downward extension of thesupply pipe passing beneath the surface of the liquid in the supplytank, an opening in the supply pipe beneath the surface of the fluid, anupwardly extending end beyond said opening made fast to the spray ringand carrying a priming device whereby the centrifugal pump is put intooperation.

4. An atomizing attachment for a radial fan of the character describedcomprising a supply tank, a chamber rotatable with said fan and locatednear the fan axis, radial tubes extending from said chamber to thesurface of the fan blades, a supply tube establishing communicationbetween said supply tank and said chamber whereby rotation of the fandraws fluid from said tank to said blades, a spray ring encircling saidfan and providing a drain for returning excess fluid thrown from the fanblades to said supply tank, said spray ring having a smaller peripheryoutwardly from the fan than in line with the blades and having a hookeddrain flange on the opposite edge of said spray ring.

5. An atomizing attachment for a radial fan of the character'describedcomprising a supply tank, a chamber rotatable with said fan and locatednear the fan axis, radial tubes extending from said chamber to thesurface of the fan blades, a supply tube establishing communicationbetween said supply tank and said chamber whereby rotation of the fandraws fluid from said tank to said fan blades, a priming deviceincluding an opening in said supply tube beneath the surface of thefluid and a bulb upon an upward extension of said supply tube, saidatomizing attachment being independent of and flexibly mounted inrelation to said supply tank whereby the fan may oscillate or be readilyadjusted to any desired position without interference to its operationby reason of such movement.

RUSSELL R. HAYS.

